Execute test with Katalon Studio in Internet Explorer (IE) mode in Microsoft Edge

As the Internet Explorer desktop application is determined to go out of support on June 15, 2022, Microsoft introduces IE mode in Microsoft Edge for organizations that still need Internet Explorer 11 for backward compatibility for legacy websites or apps. To learn more about IE mode, refer to this Microsoft document: What is Internet Explorer (IE) mode?

This tutorial shows you how to use Katalon Studio to run test cases in IE mode in Microsoft Edge.

In our example, we use a custom keyword called openIEModeEdgeBrowser to open Microsoft Edge in IE mode. To learn more about custom keywords in Katalon Studio, refer to this document: Introduction to Custom Keywords.

You can find the sample project with the custom keyword in this GitHub repository: Open IE Mode in Edge Chromium.

Note:

• You can execute tests in Internet Explorer (IE) mode in Microsoft Edge, but you cannot record new tests in IE mode in Microsoft Edge.

• Katalon Studio no longer supports recording or spying in IE as a standalone browser.

Configure Internet Options settings

Internet Explorer Configurations on Windows 10

To run tests on Internet Explorer (IE), you need the following setups:

1. Enable Protected Mode must be disabled for all available zones. To do so, choose Internet Options from Control Panel, then switch to the Security tab. Uncheck the Enable Protected Mode option.
   
2. Zoom the IE browser to 100% so that native mouse events can be set to correct coordinates.
3. For IE 11, you also need to set a registry entry on the target computer so that the driver can maintain a connection to the Internet Explorer instances. To do so, follow these steps:
   1. To open the Registry Editor, type regedit into Command Prompt.
   2. Locate the FEATURE_BFCACHE subkey. If you cannot find the FEATURE_BFCACHE subkey, create one.
      • For 32-bit Windows, the key is at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_BFCACHE .
      • For 64-bit Windows, the key is at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\FeatureControl\FEATURE_BFCACHE.
   3. Inside this subkey, create a DWORD value called iexplore.exe with the value of 0.
      

Internet Explorer Configurations on Windows 11

To run tests on Internet Explorer (IE), open Control Panel and go to Network and Internet > Internet Options, then do as follows:

1. In the Internet Properties dialog, select the Security tab.
2. Choose Local intranet.
3. Click on the Sites button.
4. Enable Automatically detect intranet network, then click OK.

Replace the IE WebDriver

To run your test with IE mode, you need to manually replace the IE WebDriver in Katalon Studio configuration folder. Do as follows:

1. Download the 32 bit Windows Internet Explorer Driver Server from Selenium: The Internet Explorer Driver Server.
2. Go to <Katalon Studio folder>\configuration\resources\drivers\iedriver_win64 to replace the driver.exe file with the one you have downloaded.

Create the openIEModeEdgeBrowser custom keyword

1. Go to Tests Explorer > Keywords, and create a new keyword package.

   Here we name the package com.example.

   

2. Right-click on the newly created package and create a new keyword class.

   We name the class openIEModeEdgeBrowser.

   

   In the openIEModeEdgeBrowser.groovy file, copy and paste the following script and save it.

   package com.example
   import static com.kms.katalon.core.checkpoint.CheckpointFactory.findCheckpoint
   import static com.kms.katalon.core.testcase.TestCaseFactory.findTestCase
   import static com.kms.katalon.core.testdata.TestDataFactory.findTestData
   import static com.kms.katalon.core.testobject.ObjectRepository.findTestObject
   
   import com.kms.katalon.core.annotation.Keyword
   import com.kms.katalon.core.checkpoint.Checkpoint
   import com.kms.katalon.core.checkpoint.CheckpointFactory
   import com.kms.katalon.core.mobile.keyword.MobileBuiltInKeywords
   import com.kms.katalon.core.model.FailureHandling
   import com.kms.katalon.core.testcase.TestCase
   import com.kms.katalon.core.testcase.TestCaseFactory
   import com.kms.katalon.core.testdata.TestData
   import com.kms.katalon.core.testdata.TestDataFactory
   import com.kms.katalon.core.testobject.ObjectRepository
   import com.kms.katalon.core.testobject.TestObject
   import com.kms.katalon.core.webservice.keyword.WSBuiltInKeywords
   import com.kms.katalon.core.webui.keyword.WebUiBuiltInKeywords
   
   import internal.GlobalVariable
   
   import org.openqa.selenium.WebElement
   import org.openqa.selenium.ie.InternetExplorerDriver
   import org.openqa.selenium.ie.InternetExplorerOptions
   import org.openqa.selenium.WebDriver
   import org.openqa.selenium.By
   
   import com.kms.katalon.core.mobile.keyword.internal.MobileDriverFactory
   import com.kms.katalon.core.webui.driver.DriverFactory
   
   import com.kms.katalon.core.testobject.RequestObject
   import com.kms.katalon.core.testobject.ResponseObject
   import com.kms.katalon.core.testobject.ConditionType
   import com.kms.katalon.core.testobject.TestObjectProperty
   
   import com.kms.katalon.core.mobile.helper.MobileElementCommonHelper
   import com.kms.katalon.core.util.KeywordUtil
   
   import com.kms.katalon.core.webui.exception.WebElementNotFoundException
   
   
   class openIEModeEdgeBrowser {
       /**
       * Open browser
       */
       @Keyword
       def openBrowser(String url) {
           System.setProperty("webdriver.ie.driver", DriverFactory.getIEDriverPath());
           InternetExplorerOptions edgeIe11Options = new InternetExplorerOptions();
           Map<String, Object> ops = (Map<String, Object>) edgeIe11Options.getCapability("se:ieOptions");
           ops.put("ie.edgechromium", true);
           ops.put("ie.edgepath", "C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Microsoft\\Edge\\Application\\msedge.exe");
           edgeIe11Options.setCapability("ignoreProtectedModeSettings", true);
           edgeIe11Options.setCapability("ignoreZoomSetting", true);
           WebDriver driver = new InternetExplorerDriver(edgeIe11Options);
           driver.get(url)
           DriverFactory.changeWebDriver(driver)
       }
   }    

Use the custom keyword to execute test cases in IE mode

1. In Katalon Studio, create a test case.
2. Modify the test case. Open the test case and use the custom keyword as the first test step to open Microsoft Edge in IE mode.
   For example, we use the custom keyword at the beginning of the test case.

   In Manual view:

   

   In Script view:

   // Use the custom keyword and URL defined as global variable to open the site in Edge, with IE mode
   CustomKeywords.'com.example.openIEModeEdgeBrowser.openBrowser'(GlobalVariable.G_SiteURL)

   

3. Save your test case, then select the IE option to run the test.
   
   
   

Katalon Studio opens a Microsoft Edge browser session in IE mode.

After the execution, open the Log Viewer. You can see a note that says Katalon Studio successfully opened the browser in IE mode and the test case passed.